


a quick break

by lutzaussi



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cats, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 11:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9231977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lutzaussi/pseuds/lutzaussi
Summary: Why the everliving fuck Matsumoto insists on dragging Soifon out to a bar after work (on a Tuesday, no less) is a mystery to her.That doesn't mean she's not going to oogle the bar-owner, though.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mylittleuboa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylittleuboa/gifts).



Soifon doesn’t want to go out after work, she wants to go home and feed her cat and go to  _ bed _ but she has a feeling a certain blonde won’t let her. Matsumoto is prowling and when she notices Soifon packing her things after turning in her dailies she  _ pounces _ .

“I found a new snack bar,” she says, and before Soifon even declines or says anything, she adds, “dark chocolate and coffee.”

Soifon groans. Her two weaknesses.

They wait, at Matsumoto’s insistence, for Nanao to be done with her own storyboards (which is another half an hour, and Soifon extracts a promise from Matsumoto for the woman to pay for her coffee) and then they all brave the snow that has fallen all day and is continuing to fall to find the snack bar.

-

It’s tiny, out of the way and there’s only two other people there, a man who reeks of alcohol and is awkwardly trying to eat edamame, and the woman behind the bar.

Oh, lord.

The woman behind the bar is such a degree of hotness that Soifon feels that she might be safer eating the reddest curry she can find. Matsumoto, in a turn of events that Soifon has never foreseen, actually makes good on her promise and buys Soifon a coffee, which, with strawberry and chocolate syrups in it, is delicious. And, true to the woman’s word, there is chocolate, and a strange variety of snacks ranging from pickles to Pocky.

Soifon tries not to stare at the owner but does so in lieu of paying attention to what Nanao and Matsumoto are talking about--probably bitching about the storyboards they had to redo--until her phone beeps at her.

_ Mochi is crying at me, where r u? _

That’s...embarrassing. She forgot to tell him.  _ matsumoto dragged me out to a bar _

_ Don’t lie to me, I know better!! _

_ omaeda have i ever lied to you _

_ Point. When coming back? _

Soifon looks up from her phone, from her coffee, hears Matsumoto order another beer and types back,  _ late _

It takes about a minute for Ōmaeda to reply, a picture of Mochi with her food dish full attached  _ You owe me!! _

Soifon can’t help the snort, because she’s only had Mochi for a month and everything the cat does is adorable. A fluffy black Scottish fold. It is a struggle to not flood her own Instagram with pictures of the cat, and Ōmaeda is trying to convince her to make the cat into an internet celebrity.

“Cat pics?” Matsumoto slurs, leaving Nanao alone for a moment in favor of wrapping a very jelly-like arm around Soifon’s shoulder to reel her in.

“Mm,” Soifon knows that everyone appreciates a good cat picture, lets the other woman droop over her shoulder and stare at her phone.

Matsumoto collapses onto the bar, blubbering, “Go-o-od, your cat is too--too cute!”

Soifon chuckles to herself, lets Nanao console the other woman and buy her another beer. She hesitates to order anything for herself, but they worked late today and dinner was around three hours ago. So, more chocolate.

When the woman brings it she mentions, offhandedly but with real interest underneath, “You have a cat?”

-

They end up talking about cats--specifically  _ Soifon’s _ cat--for around half an hour and by the time Matsumoto is drunk enough to leave Soifon is in love with the woman. It--it would be hard not to be though, because she’s all violet-dyed hair and dark skin and when she leans over the counter to look at Soifon’s phone she smells like cinnamon and fresh coffee.

So. She doesn’t really want to leave.

But she does because Matsumoto is close to barfing on Nanao, and Nanao has never called a cab in Sapporo before. She calls them a cab and, since she’s really close to her apartment anyway, braves the snow once again, spends the entire slog telling herself that it’s fine, she’s met overwhelming people before and forgotten about them within a day.

Mochi welcomes her back with purrs and licks, as soon as one of Soifon’s hands is in reach. Ōmaeda is passed out with his school work under his face and after Soifon starts some miso for the morning she rescues his papers and turns the TV from what probably had been American football but was just some talking heads to ice skating.

The next day is normal--is  _ nice _ , she gets a lot of work done and it’s a relief for everyone when the last storyboards are okayed. They have a lot of work but it’s work that’s easy and repetitive and  by the time it’s winding down Soifon has firmly put the woman from the stand from her mind.

But she decides she is fucked when Matsumoto invites her out again and she doesn’t even hesitate before accepting the invitation.

-

If-- _ if _ \--she is honest with herself it is nice to go out with Matsumoto and Nanao and not worry about work but it is even nicer to be able to look at Yoruichi for an hour or so before going back to her apartment with her cat and her best friend slash little brother Ōmaeda, because Ōmaeda is getting his PhD so he’s constantly studying and there really isn’t anything for her to do at the apartment.

Suffering through Matsumoto’s drunkenness is okay, really.

But after three evenings she’s burned out and she just wants to cuddle her cat and maybe start a new Instagram, and Matsumoto is informed of this after Soifon leaves, via text. She tries to call her but Soifon doesn’t pick up, just slogs through the snow to her apartment and spends three hours taking pictures of her cat in between cooking and watching skating competitions on her phone.

-

She wakes up to find that Mochi is very popular on the internet, Ōmaeda has fully made a bento for her, and she needs to get moving if she wants to be to work on time.

-

After-work shenanigans are begged off again because Soifon needs to buy groceries, cat food, and clothes because Ōmaeda didn’t go shopping and also ruined a half dozen of her shirts and her favorite pair of jeans when he did the wash. His own closet is in a similar state but she isn’t willing to buy him new clothes.

The clothes-shopping is done first, and Soifon ends up with maybe more dresses in her bags then she would like to admit. There’s also two pairs of jeans, though, and a couple of shirts. The groceries are easier to get, and the cat food, and then she breaks down and calls a cab to take her and all of her crap the five blocks back to the apartment.

And she forces herself to ignore the inviting lights of Yoruichi’s bar when the cab coasts past it.

-

She stress-knits three tiny sweaters for Mochi over the next two weeks because they are in production and everything is  _ crazy _ . Ōmaeda wrangles the password for the cat’s Instagram out of her and takes it upon himself to post illegally cute pictures of the cat while Soifon is suffering at work. Even Matsumoto is too exhausted to try and drag anyone out to drink, which is a relief for everyone in the office.

After two weeks they are still in production, obviously, and Soifon has a  _ lot  _ of work because while Nanao and Matsumoto and their cronies have storyboards, Soifon has to shuffle those into keyframes. It’s mind-blurring and hand-cramping work, but it pays well.

It is the saddest of coincidences, though, that Ōmaeda has tests in the middle of it all, but they still take pictures of the cat.

Soifon--Soifon actually misses Yoruichi, which is confusing because she’s only met her three times.

-

About three months in she gets a message on Instagram--well, one of many messages that, for the most part, she deletes--from somebody under the username ainu_nproud with a rather familiar face in the icon.

_ Oh my god I can’t believe that your cat has gotten even more beautiful? _

The second message comes as Soifon is reading the first, two words,  _ Yoruichi btw _

Soifon has to take a moment--actually, several, and Ōmaeda looks concerned when she lays down on the floor of the kitchen but he just steps over her to make them coffee and breakfast and bento for lunch.

Soifon manages to reply, in the middle of eating her bento that afternoon,  _ she’s even prettier in person, thx tho _

And when she checks her phone that evening she shrieks, in Ōmaeda’s face, because Yoruichi sent another message.

_ How r u? Haven’t seen u in a while&was worried _

-

It is only another month but Soifon is now used to texting Yoruichi whenever she gets the chance--and, texting, because Ōmaeda has access to the Instagram and she doesn’t want him knowing. He’s the one who answers most of the questions they get (thank god for vet school) but he isn’t the best at the photography side.

The texting is confusing because Soifon has never done this, never texted a person basically constantly for an extended amount of time and she wants to know why Yoruichi is so interested in her, but she can’t just outright  _ ask _ the other woman. That would be awkward and Soifon has tried her best since primary school to not be awkward.

-

After nine months production is over and Soifon has a week of vacation while Ōmaeda is interning at the veterinary clinic. She gets to sleep in and that and the marvel of taking time for breakfast is enough to overwhelm her for a full day. But it’s also the middle of January, and there’s snow everywhere and snow makes her want to sleep.

So she goes shopping instead, buys new boots and a couple of dresses, a couple of collars for Mochi (featuring bells and bows, obviously), a rather ridiculous number of pillows and blankets, and, for no particular reason, the first two BDs of the show she was working on.

But watching television and in particular anime always requires snacks, so Soifon finds herself outside of Yoruichi’s bar because she has never found the chocolate that the woman has in any of the convenience stores and Yoruichi refuses to tell her what brand it is.

It’s warm and cozy, and the same drunk man is still in the corner eating edamame and Yoruichi is leaning on the counter and scrolling through her phone. She looks up when Soifon enters, though, an actual smile splitting her face and creating butterflies in Soifon’s stomach.

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?” she asks, but she sounds thrilled.

“Chocolate,” Soifon gets right to the point and Yoruichi laughs.

“Only if you tell me the name.”

-

Soifon was categorically opposed to telling Yoruichi what anime she was working on, and surprisingly Matsumoto and Nanao also didn’t tell her. But production is over and the last episode is going to be airing soon. So, Soifon tells her, and Yoruichi beams, gives her chocolate.

-

Soifon is three days into her week vacation and has just popped in a blu-ray when her phone beeps at her. She finds it under the chocolate and the pillows and the blankets and, of course, it’s Yoruichi.

_ Can’t find it where did u get it?? Is it streaming somewhere?? _

_ did u look online _

_ Yes!! The first BD was all sold out and I even went to a physical store and AAAAA I WANNA WATCH IT TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND IT _

And maybe Yoruichi is thinking it through too hard, but she finally types out, _ i have the first four eps, if ur free u can come over _

And the response is almost immediate.

_ YES I’ll bring more chocolate _

-

Ōmaeda comes home to find Soifon passed out in the depths of the pillows and Yoruichi intensely focused on the television. He drops his bags and coat in his room, comes out to find Soifon still asleep and Yoruichi still watching anime.

He makes himself coffee, grabs a bag of senbei, and drops into a squat behind Soifon, squints at the television and asks, “So, this is the show, then.”

“Mm,” Yoruichi replies, barely glances from the television to look at him.

“Are you two dating?” he asks, and Yoruichi fully turns to give him a look that is both terrified and unsure.

“No?” she says.

“Mmyes we’re dating,” Soifon pushes herself out of the pillows and blankets, falls on her face, “fuck off, ‘maeda, give me coffee.”

-

“Are we dating?” Yoruichi asks her that evening after they finish the four episodes and a movie and Ōmaeda has left to get food.

Soifon feels very calm about the entire thing from her position on the floor, looks at the other woman and says, “Well, if you don’t want to…?”

Yoruichi looks down at her, scandalized, and says, “We’re dating.”

-

Matsumoto refuses to go back to Yoruichi’s snack bar because, the next time she goes with Soifon, the two women spend the entire time talking about the date they have.

Nanao, though, gladly accompanies her.


End file.
